After a big fun evening of packing suitcases and picking through hair with a fine-tooth comb, I determined that neither Queenie nor Natalie had any bugs as of yet, and that I didn't know how I was EVER getting rid of Lady Capulet's. I was frustrated to say the least, and more than a little glad to go home and make it her mother's problem instead of mine. (though I was pretty sure with all the close contact between her and Lady Capulet, I would have my own problems once we got home.)
We spent the next morning loading the car, charging the cell phone, Palm Pilot, and the Gameboy; and loading unnecessary items into the car. At around 2:30 p.m., we made our final trip over to the Magic Kingdom. I had learned a little parade trick during our last visit, and wanted to see if it would still work during the busier season at the park. If you read my last trip report, you know that when we arrived at the park at around 3:30, we were sure we had missed the 3 o'clock parade, only to see it coming right at us at the relatively uncrowded front part of the park as it concluded. So, I tried it again and again it worked! It was very hot, though. But, with bottled water, spray fans, and a parade passing; the girls didn't complain too much.
Immediately after the parade, we got fast passes for Space Mountain and spent the rest of the day fighting massive crowds. As empty as the Magic Kingdom was on Saturday (which was a huge surprise), it was jam-packed on Sunday. (yeah, yeah, I know...let it be a lesson to me, and believe me it was) There were three hours before our fast pass time return, and we didn't accomplish much in that time. We rode the Astro Orbiter (which I usually avoid because I hate being up so high), Goofy's little roller coaster in ToonTown (during which I refereed MANY spats while we waited in line), the spinning tea cups, and we waited for yet another cancelled showing of Cinderellabration. (Poor Natalie, it just wasn't meant to be on this trip) Finally, our fast pass time came up!
I LOVE Space Mountain. It is possible my favorite roller coaster and has been since my friend Joy and I took a bus trip to California our senior year in college to visit Disneyland. (Bus trip? Yes, and I don't know what we were thinking either.) However, I have been anxious about letting Natalie ride it. She is tall enough, but very thin. The ride doesn't have a safety belt, just a lap bar, AND you ride it individually. I had these horrible visions of her flying out of the ride and tried to calm my nerves by sitting in the car just behind hers and holding onto her shoulders. (Yes, I know, I have some serious issues with 'letting go.') She was fine and loved the ride. I can't remember a less-enjoyable ride myself. She was fine and I'm sure the ride engineers know what they are doing when they set the height limits, but I'm still glad our next trip will be when she is a few years older and (hopefully) a few pounds heavier.
When we exited the ride into the gift shop it was POURING rain. (I guess they knew what they were doing when they cancelled the show) I was determined to wait out the rain there, but persistent cries of "Can I have..." finally convinced me we needed to get out of there. I realized that Stitch's Great Escape had a covered line and decided that no matter how long the stand-by wait time was, we were staying. When I saw that it was 45 minutes, I balked a little, but we had done everything else and I sure wasn't standing in another store with three girls who had bad cases of "the gimmies." I pulled out the Gameboy, timed their turns, and we waited it out. In the end, the older girls weren't too impressed with the show/ride, and it's not my favorite either. Natalie, on the other hand, loved it more than she did on our last visit.
We lined up for the early evening parade only for it to be (guess what?!) cancelled. So, we got some dinner at Cosmic Rays. It turns out that the $13 chicken and rib platter plus one $4 kids meal was enough to feed all four of us abundantly. That was probably our cheapest dinner of the trip. I wish I had figured that our sooner. After dinner, we were amazed to find a good fireworks viewing spot with a bench! It was wet, which is why it wasn't occupied. I'm glad I carry one of those small microfiber towels in my tote bag. Woo Hoo! We rested until the fireworks started. They were great, and we thought maybe grabbing some ice cream as we walked to the exit was how we would end our evening. Fortunately, we got one last sprinkling of pixie dust. As we exited the ice cream parlor, we heard that the later parade was definitely a go. Then, we found seats at the edge of Main Street (this meant good parade viewing AND a quick exit as the parade was still making it's way towards Frontierland).
The older girls tried to act 'cool' during both the day's parades, but you could tell they were getting into it. All I could think as I watched their happy faces was "Thank goodness I didn't wait another year to bring them!" Lady Capulet is teetering dangerously close to adolescence, and I'm glad to see that, if you show her a good parade and toss in an ince cream cone for good measure, there is still a little girl in there somewhere. And again, their enraptured faces convinced me that they won't look back on this as just "the head lice trip," though I'm sure someday we will look back on that and laugh. Just not any time soon.
We made it back to the car with a minimum of crowd trouble thanks to our good parade spot. At about 11:30 p.m., it was no trick to get the girls in bed after some more combing and hair checks. We got up the next morning and did our final loading before grabbing a late breakfast at the Food Court. I found the airport with little trouble and turned in the rental car. We lugged all our junk into the check-in desk and got to the gate with lots of time to spare just like I like it. The girls were a little bummed that because I was with them, they didn't get to pre-board, but excited to get to sit together on the plane.
The flight was uneventful. I finished The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and started Little Alters Everywhere (loved the former, not so keen on the latter). We got to baggage claim and didn't see Dave yet. When he did stroll through the doors, he was a lot better-looking than I remembered and I can't say enough about how nice it was to have another adult to talk to. All in all it was a worthwhile trip, but I certainly am glad to be home.
P.S. Elisa remembered me-just like everyone promised!
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